Recreational boating has earned a well-deserved spot of the list of favorite pastimes of countless people. The ability to get outside and enjoy warm weather, sunshine, and water make all kinds of boating truly enjoyable. Many people turn to the use of a kayak to get out on the water, especially when fishing or just exploring local waterways and lakes when camping. Unfortunately, even small versions of such watercraft must be transported by trailer or on the roof of a large car or truck. Then problems also arise on where to store such boats when they are not in use. Their odd size takes up a large amount of space in garages and storage sheds. Others may be forced to store them outside in the yard, thus sacrificing aesthetic appeal of their home. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which kayaks can be modified to address the above mentioned deficiencies, yet remain a fun and easy to use watercraft.
There have been attempts in the past to provide watercraft to address the aforementioned deficiencies. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2008/0121166 in the name of Yaron et al. discloses a modular kayak. The parts of the Yaron et al. device interconnect with each other with a set of fasteners.
U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2009/0165695 in the name of Fritsch discloses a collapsible kayak, comprising two (2) halves of a kayak body folded together and further incorporating an inflatable sponson.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,827 issued in the name of Szigeti discloses a folding kayak, comprising a water-tight hinge-mounting to enable the kayak to fold upward. The Szigeti kayak also requires inflatable sides and at least one (1) tensioning frame.
Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned attempts at providing such a collapsible kayak having a fore and aft boat portions hingedly attached to a center portion and further having fore and aft seals and seat portions foldingly affixed to the kayak as taught within the present invention.